Several centuries after an almost-failed colony attempt, the planet Terra II is a strange place. Its human population is entirely male, born from recombinant DNA and cloning technology, and its hostile surface is home to six widely-separated city-states, each mimicking an earthly culture ranging from medieval Japan to 20th-Century America. Women have not been forgotten among the men of Terra II, though — simple-minded automatons called "marionettes" are built in exclusively female form, and act as servants, entertainers, concubines — and in some cases, infantry troops.

In the city-state of Japoness, which is modeled after Edo-era Japan, industrious orphan Otaru struggles to make ends meet. Too poor to afford a marionette of his own, he runs back and forth through the city trying to scrape up enough cash to live on with a series of odd jobs. In the wake of a mishap during one such job, Otaru finds and awakens Lime — a marionette who acts more like a real person than an automaton, loaded with emotions, curiosity, and an unfortunate tendency to attract trouble.

Otaru soon finds himself the center of a great deal of attention, including (to his shock) that of the shogun. And two more "unusual" marionettes, Cherry and Bloodberry, soon end up in his possession. As a neighboring city-state modeled after Nazi Germany begins gearing up for war with Japoness, Otaru must guide and teach what amounts to three affectionate and rambunctious teenagers — whom he will discover hold within themselves the keys not only to Japoness' long term survival, but to the secrets behind the failure of the colony mission and to the rescue of the last survivor of the original crew.

Saber Marionette J is a series of light novels that are very obscure, and would probably have remained so, had the creators not made a Radio drama taking place 500 years after in the future, Saber Marionette R. R follows Virrey Junior, prince of Romana, and his Marionettes, named after the ones from J. It was eventually adapted into an OVA, and most likely lead to the novels getting an Animated Adaptation. The anime starts off as a light comedy, but slowly turns more dramatic as time goes on. It generally has a healthy mix of humor and suspense, and is a Cult Classic to those who watched it, especially in Latin America.

It was subsequently followed by several sequels, most notably Saber Marionette J Again, an OVA revolving around a new Marionette and Saber Marionette J To X, a second and final season. There's also a videogame for the first Playstation called Battle Sabers. It never was released outside of Japan.

All There in the Manual: Jokes aside, general information of Lime and the other characters are found in their character bios in the DVD sets for the J series. Among them are full body measurements, as well as code-names and miscellaneous stats.

Artistic License – Biology: The main dilemma of Saber Marionette J as a whole revolves around the notion that there are no females on Terra II and genetic cloning can only advance the human race to a certain point with no real evolutionary progress. Because the six survivors use recombinant DNA to create all their clones, they overlook the possibility of simply adjusting the sexual chromosome (XY to XX) before the cloning process begins, which would solve the problem of limited birth options. But then that would make the plot of rescuing Lorelei from inside the Mesopotamia using the maiden circuits from three lucky marionettes completely moot.

Ass Kicking Pose: Subverted in one episode where Otaru hits a blade-wielding Ronin.

"If you guys were any slower to mature... we'd still be doing what we were doing in the last episode."

Hangata at the start of the episodes #1 and #3 of J-X.

Camp Gay: Hanagata highly qualifies as this, mainly because of his obssession with Otaru, which naturally annoys both Otaru himself and the Marionettes. Obviously, he's also used as the series' Plucky Comic Relief, among others. The following quote is one of the mildest of his rather loud declarations. Then there's him playing "He loves me, he loves me not" with a flower... and eating it. Twice.

In episode 4 of J, Cherry invokes it in an attempt of creating the perfect "hero saves heroine" scenario to get a lovey-dovey moment with Otaru.

Lorelei

Do Androids Dream?: Otaru's marionettes and Faust's Saber Dolls. They have the ability to replicate human emotions and thought patterns, but they're often treated as though they're simply machines. Their maiden circuits allow them to feel human emotions, but it also extends to a form of consciousness once the circuits reach full maturity.

Drama Bomb: The infiltration into Gartland's episodes. After almost 10 episode of seeing Japoness, a peaceful and colorful city to then seeing Gartland and how bad it social situation is, it's quite shocking.

In an episode of J, the three marionettes fell "ill" (actually they bodies started to overload because they were absorbing a lot of energy from a huge underground plasma cloud, simulating a fever) and Otaru, before going to confront the plasma to protect them, while the three where sleeping, give to each one a "goodbye" kiss on the cheeks.

Gender inverted in an episode of J to X. While they were on a train, Otaru fell asleep and the girls take the moment to talk about how wonderful he is and give to him each one a "thanks for being wonderful" kiss.

Enemy Mine: In episode 6 of J; Hanagata, Lime and Cherry tried to join forces to avoid Bloodberry from having Otaru for herself.

Expy: The android assassin in J Again #4 is a shapeshifting assassin made from silver liquid metal and is destroyed by extreme heat is of course modelled after the main antagonist from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Gecko Ending: The Manga and Anime go off in a different direction then the books. For example, the true nature of Hess. In the books, he's the original Faust who turned himself into a robot. In the Anime, he still turned himself into a robot, but he's instead a survivor from a previous expedition to Terra II. Averted with the radio drama, which is pretty much a Non-Serial Movie.

Hotter and Sexier: The manga version, which brought up the question about why bother making them anatomically correct if you're going to make loving them socially taboo... (Bloodberry's pair of Gag Boobs are but two of many unending examples... and Lime is introduced naked.) It makes sense, in a way, because Kotoyoshi Yumisuke is an avid hentai artist, maybe it was on his contract, or just plain Author Appeal.

Hot Springs Episode: After Otaru, his three marionettes, and Hanagata complete their mission in Gartland, the group finds an abandoned hotel with natural hot springs. But the episode takes a nosedive in tone when a huge plasma cloud forms and threatens their lives.

Humongous Mecha: The Japoness' Guard and Gartland's Sabbelberg are the main qualifiers.

InternalDeconstruction/Genre Deconstruction: the Harem Genre gets this treatment in J to X. Shirase does not approve when he learns about the situation at all. This causes Otaru to have an epiphany, which almost causes him to leave the Marionettes behind so he won't deny them their freedom. It gets better, but in the end none of the marionettes end up with Otaru... at least, not romantically.

I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The Mesopotamia itself. After the three marionettes's Heroic Sacrifice to stop the ship destroying Terra II, in a last act of good will the Mesopotamia let the three girls return to their beloved Otaru since the maiden circuits simulated Lorelei's personality and the ship does really love her and wants its new mechanical lovers to be happy.

Laser-Guided Amnesia: Happens to Otaru's marionettes in J to X thanks to severe shock trauma by Hess. They snap out of it, though.

Last of His Kind: Lorelei is the only female human in the entire series. At least, until Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry turned human at the end of J to X.

Lettered Sequel: Saber Marionette J is followed up by Saber Marionette J Again, Saber Marionette J to X, Saber Marionette R and the manga-only Saber Marionette Z. The letters are the initials of the places where the main characters are located: J stands for Japaness which is based on Japan, R is for Romana which is based on Romania, X means Xian which is based on China, and Z is the oddball as it's the initial of a new starring character, Zero. The first series is followed up directly by J Again and then J to X, whereas R and Z are distant sequels.

Lethal Chef: In one episode of J, there is a cooking contest involving the Otaru's Marionettes and the Saber Dolls. The only marionette to successfully avoid this trope was Cherry (being a Yamato Nadeshiko and all). Lime's unpredictability and Tiger's fan-service were able to obtain points even though their cooking was obviously less than par.

Love at First Sight: Marionettes with Maiden Circuits experience this with the first manperson thing they see upon activating.

Love Epiphany: Lime was kidnapped in episode 8 of J. When Otaru worries too much for her, Hanagata insinuates that he loves his marionettes and tells him that marionettes are just machines and loving them is wrong. After a visit to the pioneers museum, he decides to screw the rules and make his own decisions on what's right and wrong; and for him is right to love his marionettes.

Love Hurts: Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry, because of all the love Otaru gives to them, they can't understand the pain the Saber Dolls have to suffer through for their love towards Faust, who treats them as mere tools. When they realize it, Lime sees that having a maiden circuit (a heart) not only gives people happiness but also pain...so she in a confused, psychotic breaktakes hers out.

Marry Them All: At the end of J, it seems this is the only solution to Otaru's romantic dilemma, as he loves the three girls as much as they love him. In J to X this is subverted when the marionettes's become Artificial Humans and Otaru takes them as his daughters.

Meaningful Name: The ship sent to colonize Terra II is called the Mesopotamia. In our Earth, that was also the place where the first civilizations were born.

One-Gender Race: The human population of Terra II, as they're all male except for Lorelei and (by the end of J to X) the three main marionettes after their revival.

"On the Next Episode of..." Catch Phrase: "Otaru, I love you!". It's mostly said by Lime, in a informal and childish way. Cherry says it in a formal and respetful way while Blodberry goes for the informal, slang way. In the preview of the episode when he understands his feelings, Hanagata says it.

Out of the Inferno: In both a heroic and villainous manner. The former when Lime rescues Hanagata's brother Yumeji from a burning building, the latter with Faust's Saber Beast Leopard, once it acquires Cherry and Bloodberry's maiden circuits.

Parental Abandonment: Whoever Otaru was cloned off never shows up. There are a few hints that it may be Ieyasu.

The Power of Love: Marionettes with maiden circuits mature faster and became stronger, via the love and concern of their beloved.

The first of them, at least in the Anime: Why do you think that Lime, Cherry, Bloodberry and the Saber Dolls have emotions? Answer: they have a maiden circuit.

Then, several episodes later, again, at least in the Anime, we discover the true purpose behind the Japoness' (and Gartland's) marionettes' construction: to serve as a replacement for Lorelei aboard the Mesopotamia when said circuits reach full maturity.

And what about Marine? Simple: she was built with an anti-plasma system and plasma manipulation abilities, which were given to her to prevent the menacing disaster towards Terra II... even at the cost of her life. She survives that, though.

And finally, who the hell was Hess? Answer: the first man in the face of Terra II, or the original Gerhard von Faust, depending on the Continuity.

As for the R OVA, all Romana Viceroys are clones of the original Romana King, including Star Face — except for Junior, who is an actual son of the previous viceroy and born to a human mother. It's enough to drive Star Face into suicide.

Satellite Love Interest: Enforced on marionettes with Maiden Circuits because of the Love at First Sight programming. However, it's a key plot point that the circuits develop by Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry interacting and forming bonds with characters besides Otaru. The Saber Dolls were emotionally stunted by Faust, but develop past this trope near the end of J.

Sensual Spandex: Lime and her sisters awaken wearing this; Lime and Bloodberry have this as major parts of their normal outfits.

Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: The definition of a "Saber" marionette is being either armed and/or powerful enough to use as a weapon, despite being still more or less human in appearance. The Marionettes with Maiden Circuits are naturally extremely powerful.

Terrible Trio: The Saber Dolls in the original Saber Marionette J, and the Sexadolls in the Saber Marionette R OVA.

Techno Babble: Anything to do with marionettes, "maiden circuits" and plasma energy.

That Came Out Wrong: In Gartland, Otaru had to kiss Luchs to prevent her rebooting the principal CPU. Of course this angered his three own marionettes who demand him to kiss them as well. Otaru then say that of the kiss was on the past and they should accepted it as men. Cue Lime's:

Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Lampshaded and played Straight. In the Broke Episode, Lime spins an elephant on an umbrella to advertise for a burger stand while smiling. Guess what people are paying attention to? The smile.

Yaoi Guys: Loving marionettes is considered taboo, so the only "right" love is towards another man. Otaru is the only who finds it creepy and would prefer to continue loving his three marionettes despite (or rather because) of Hanagata's affections towards him.

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